This new lily plant variety originated as a seedling which first flowered at Sandy, Ore., in 1970, the mother plant for this seedling being a selected clone from the strain `Pink Glory` (unpatented) which I crossed with a selected form of the species Lilium nobilissum (unpatented) as the pollen parent, the crossing of these distinctly unrelated varieties being done under extremely high greenhouse temperatures maintained for at least one week after pollination. The objective of this crossing was the production of a large flowered, generally upright Oriental lily hybrid in shades of soft pink and white suited for forcing into flower out-of-season, heretofore unknown in the lily breeding art. The selection of this particular seedling for propagation was done because it had an upright to semi-upright orientation of its flowers, which were of extremely large size and broad tepalled in a bowl-shaped form; and because the flowers had a distinctive clear pink coloration bordered with a white margin of medium width, unique among Oriental hybrid lilies, and because the plant possessed an unusually strong, stout stem with exceptionally broad leaves. Reproduction of this selected seedling was done by me at Sandy, Ore., by bulb scale propagation and it was found that the clone possesses to a high degree the desirable characteristics of hybrid vigor, great hardiness, and disease resistance. The clone was also found to be a vigorous and good grower and propagator as observed under testing at Sandy, Ore.
Successive generations of this new plant produced by natural propagation from bulblets, by bulb scale propagation, and by tissue culturing from bulb scale explants have demonstrated that the novel and distinctive characteristics of this new variety of lily are fixed and hold true under asexual propagation from generation to generation and appear to be firmly fixed.
Work with this new variety has also demonstrated that it is well suited for forcing out-of-season when the bulbs are dug at the appropriate time and properly precooled. For example, late October-dug bulbs, properly precooled and potted in January, will flower under glass in western Oregon in an average of one hundred ten to one hundred fifteen days, with no supplementary lighting and at moderate greenhouse temperatures.